Julianstown Blog

Julianstown Pride of Place

As judging day for Pride of Place approaches, we would appreciate volunteers to help with a spruce up in the village…litter pick up, strimming, weeding and general tidy up around the shrub beds, seat etc.

Saturday 14 July 10.00 am at school or if it suits you better
Thursday 12 July 7.30 pm at school.

Bring strimmers, brushes, shovels. Litter pick up equipment can be provided.
Many thanks.

Add comment June 28th, 2007

Traffic jam in Julianstown

At 3PM on a Sunday afternoon the traffic is backed up two miles into the village. How can Meath County Council say that there isn’t a problem?

Add comment June 10th, 2007

Proof that Julianstown traffic is not caused by toll

We compared the traffic profiles in the similar villages of Julianstown and Clonard. Julianstown was on the old N1 and was supposedly bypassed with the opening of the M1. Clonard was on the old N4 and was bypassed when the M4 was opened. Both new roads are tolled. The contrast between the two villages is stark. Before the toll both villages had similar levels of chronic traffic, however after the motorways opened the Julianstown traffic hardly dropped whereas in clonrd it is down by more than 60%. This is proof that traffic in Julianstown is not influenced by the toll. See this graph.

The toll is often used as an excuse for the traffic in Julianstown in the context that Julianstown has got its bypass and won’t be getting a new one. It is hard to see why a toll would have such an effect on Julianstown and not on Clonard, where the toll is in fact higher. Granted a toll is a deterent to use, but it is obvious that most of the traffic in Julianstown is not toll avoiding.

Interestingly the data for Clonard show that almost a quarter of the traffic is HGV traffic which pays a higher toll. It looks like HGV traffic is more sensitive to tolling and in fact would be the main body of traffic to avoid a toll. That means the toll should lead to a relative increase in HGV traffic. In Julianstown the opposite has occurred. In fact the proportion of HGV traffic in Julianstown is decreasing again indicating that the toll is not diverting traffic into Julianstown.

So what does this mean? It means that most of the traffic in Julianstown is local, travelling from or to Drogheda and East Meath, an area where the population is doubling every 5 years. The M1 did not effectively bypass Julianstown and the County Council’s claim that the tolls are the cause of the problem are not supported by the facts.

What needs to be done? The council needs to acknowledge this as the situation and immediately start planning an adequate road network to effectively transport the East Meath population to the M1, a route that should not pass through Julianstown. The situation is very poor in Julianstown and the Council’s reponses are inadequate and unprofessional.

1 comment June 10th, 2007

Comments on Julianstown traffic

From CH, Stamullen

I’ve lived in Stamullen for 3 decades now and I must agree that it’s ridiculous that there’s no provision for a bypass in Julianstown despite the fact that over 20k PCUs pass through each day. In fact, anything over 17k PCUs would justify a dual carriageway according to the NRA, not to mention that roads carrying just 8k PUs are being by-passed with motorway/HQDC schemes around the country.

Now, the R132 from Gormanston to Drogheda should be designated as a branch national primary road - ie. N34 is the next available number. This route serves one of the main Dublin to Drogheda South traffic desire lines, as the M1 Toll would only represent value for money regarding motorists heading for Drogheda North or further afield. In any case, daily toll payments would prove costly over time.

On a side track issue, do you know why the council has removed the hard shoulders on the R132 south of the Europa Hotel? – there’s nowhere safe to walk or cycle now – where’s the green party regarding this issue? Much of the road through Julianstown was also narrowed – this happened during the 1997 traffic calming works – on the southern approach to the River Nanny bridge, the road was reduced by at least one cycle lane width – what a waste! As a cyclist, the message that I’m getting from the above is that cyclists and pedestrians are not welcome along the R132!

PCU=Passenger car unit
HQDC=High Quality Dual Carriageway

Add comment June 6th, 2007

Residents Assoc Minutes Online

Minutes for April and May meetings are now online.
Minutes April 2007
Minutes March 2007

Add comment June 2nd, 2007